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About US$14.4 million has been invested in the implementation of the project, although for its full operation, according to program managers, they still require about RD$4 MM.

According to statistics of the livestock sub-sector, the country has more than two million heads of cattle with low productivity, which affects the dominican republic do not have the capacity to meet the demand of milk production, and it becomes necessary to define strategies to contribute to improving the competitiveness of the sector.

The Dominican Institute for Agricultural and Forestry Research (Idiaf) has launched the Project “Genetic Improvement of cattle breeding in the Dominican Republic, from tropicalized breeds”, through which embryos of vaccine breeds will be inseminated and transplanted and easily adapted to the tropical climate for the production of milk and meat.

The executive director of Idiaf, Rafael Pérez, said that annually the country has to supply local demand with imports. He explained that Dominican cattle ranching is affected by a series of problems that undermine its productivity and thus competitiveness.

He said that among the activities being carried out is the establishment of laboratories for the production of quality bovine breeds that help to grow the livestock market internationally. On his side, the director of the center of Animal Production (CPA), Gregorio García Lagombra, explained that some of the problems of cattle ranching in the country are the intolerance to the climate of the European dairy breeds in Dominican territory, low productivity of the dairy breeds, low reproductive rates, high mortality rates, little grazing ability, and high nutritional requirements, difficult to achieve under tropical conditions, among others.

He stressed that, according to the information of the Idiaf, livestock dual-purpose produces practically close to 65% of the milk and about 55% of the flesh of the country.

The embryo transplantation and in Vitro fertilization center will be established and operated at an Idiaf Experimental Station in La Vega. At the end of six months of the project, the laboratories, pens, offices, houses and potreros division of the centre will be established and the technical, administrative and Labour personnel required will be available.

The director of the CPA assured that during the introduction of the programme the health protocols approved by the International Organization of epizootic diseases (OIE) have been followed and that hygiene activities report no objection to the introduction of genetic materials into bovine production.